How difficult is it to become vegan?!

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Hehe I love that last line: "I need to get rid of a few jiggly parts on my body" LOL! Well, first let me say I have been losing weight since June, and after going vegan I lost 6 pounds without ANY exercise. I have more than a few jiggly parts, and mine have really shrunk! So if mine did, yours surely will too :)

Ok, my answers:

"Is it difficult to give up all animal products?" -- Yes and no. For my it wasn't as difficult since I was already vegetarian. What made me go vegan was watching Earthlings (it's on google videos for free), so after that animal products were not tempting at ALL. It is difficult when I crave ice cream or some cheddar cheese on my tacos...and pizza. But all those things give us jiggly parts anyway! :-P

"Do you feel healthier on a vegan diet?" -- Definitely YES!! In every way. My skin is so clear, my Nana complimented it on Thanksgiving. I have lost weight. My digestive system is fantastic. I never have heartburn anymore. The list can go on and on and on. Oh yeah, the weight loss! :)

"Is it a more pricey diet?" -- It can be if you go crazy with the fake meats and cheese. Everything in moderation, my dear. Look for things like that on sale, and coupons help too. Walmart is the cheapest place for Morningstar Farms brand "meats", Silk (soy AND almond milk), and Rice Dream milk (best for cereal). Also, buy veggies that are not packaged. We pay too much for packaging that we just throw away!! Instead of buying a bag of carrots, bag your own. Another smart tip on produce is to look out for ones that are priced PER ITEM not PER POUND...that way you can get the biggest ones for the price of smaller ones :)

"What are common snacks that you can no longer eat?" -- To be perfectly honest, there are not many snacks I miss actually! I'm thinking really hard...........um.......ice cream I guess? I used to eat the Betty Crocker Warm Delights (which were making me jiggly) and they contain animal products :( Aha, I remember one thing I miss a lot: cheesy nachos. Cheese was really the hardest thing to give up for me, but thank goodness for Daiya <3 (daiyafoods.com will tell you where to get it)

"What are easy substitutes for snacks?" -- Oreos are vegan!!!! Orville Redenbacker's Natural popcorn in 'Simply Salted' uses oil instead of butter, and it's my FAVE popcorn ever! I love me some Peanut Butter & Co Chocolatey PB, omg. Most potato chips are vegan, but watch out for ranch or sour cream and onion. MANY candies are vegan. Most Famous Amos cookies are vegan too. (Google: vegan snacks)

If you've read this whole thing, wow. LOL I apologize for the length, but there were a lot of questions to be answered :) Remember, everything in moderation. That is key. If you start going vegan gradually, it will make the transition much smoother. Maybe cut out milk first, then eggs, then cheese, etc.

Good luck! <3

vegan for 2 months, vegetarian for years before that

If you become a vegan, you won't be getting as many nutrients in your diet, promoting weight gain, or sudden huge weight loss, which can cause many problems such as insomnia, which I can tell you is a pain.
Also, it will be hard for you to shop and truly not consume or use any animal products, it's very difficult to find anything without animal products in.

I know somebody that was vegan and became vegetarian because of health problems.
I also have a diploma in animal care, the course involved the animal industry. (farms, manufacturers, etc.)

Although I'm not a vegan, I do like to go out to eat. I'd be worried on the restrictions on where I could no longer go. I can handle going to salad places and I also love fish. It would be too big a sacrifice. Unless a doctor prescribed it for health reasons, I wouldn't do it. I'm already hypertensive with high blood pressure, but I wouldn't go vegan.

Being a vegan does not guarantee weight loss, so even if you become a vegan, you may still have those jiggly parts on your body.

Eat more vegetables, less carbs and way way less of those morningstar farms products (they are very caloric) if you want to lose weight

Well if you like animal products, pretty hard. Just do it gradually. Give up one thing you like one day, then another and another. Or however you became vegetarian

It's a lot easier than it seems. I've been Vegan since I was 12; when I became Vegan I thought it would be really hard, but it wasn't hard at all. If you are concerned about Animal Rights I think it will be the same for you. When animal products tempt you, remind yourself that innocent animals were tortured and murdered for those things, just to satisfy your tastebuds. It's not worth it. Keep thinking about it like that and it should make it a lot easier.

You can make pretty much anything Vegan, just substitute the ingredients:
Milk: Rice milk (most people like rice better than soy)
Eggs (baking): Ener-G egg replacer
Eggs (cooking): tofu
Ice cream: Soy ice cream
Meat: Tofu, seitan, faux meat, or textured vegetable protein

Also check out www.vegweb.com for over 13,000 Vegan recipes. And check out www.vegguide.org and www.happycow.net for listings of restaurants with Vegan options.
My favorite recipe: http://animal-liberation.webs.com/cinnam…

Vegan food can be more expensive, but it doesn't have to be, it just depends on what you eat. Some things like rice milk and soy ice cream are more expensive than the animal-derived versions, but if you bake/cook a lot of your own stuff it will probably end up being a bit cheaper than a non-Vegan diet.

If you want more info/advice feel free to email me

You'd be surprised how easy it becomes! Veganism does not have to be more expensive. Meat is just as expensive as meat substitutes. If you are a member of Costco or Sams Club, you can probably find soy or almond milk for pretty cheap. I eat a lot of rice and beans (super cheap!!!), tofu, nuts, cereal, oatmeal, granola, etc. Vegans eat a lot of fresh fruit and veggies, but everyone should be doing that anyway. A lot of things that you find on the "veg" row of the grocery store are really expensive. However, there are a lot of things out there that are "accidentally vegan."

As for going out to eat...it's really not that hard! When I first went vegan, I never went to restaurants, and when I did I would only order a side dish. I soon realized that there were actually a lot of things I could eat out! At most places, you just have to ask your server or talk to the chef. They can pretty much always modify a dish. Asian and mexican places are especially vegan friendly.

Vegan